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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copyright No.... 

Shelt..L.Si.5 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



OPPOETUNITIES 



FOR 



CULTTJEE 



JEANNETTE M. DOUGHERTY 




3 



New York : 46 East Fourteenth Street 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 

Boston : loo Purchase Street 



34614 






Copyright, 1899, 
By Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. 



Vfio. 




C J. PETBES & SON, Typogeaphebs, 
Boston. 









CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I. Some Neglected Opportunities for Culture . 5 

II. Literature 15 

III. Art 21 

IV. Society . 27 

V. Life 33 



The highest culture has a direct tendency to command sincerity 

in others. 

Philip Gilbert Hamerton. 

Culture seeks to make the best that has been thought and known 
current everywhere. 

Matthew Arnold. 

Culture sets before a man a high ideal end to aim at, which enters 

in and controls his life. 

Prof. J. G. Schairp. 



OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE 



SOME NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

" There is no opportunity for Fred and myself. No 
matter how earnestly we desire culture, it is simply be- 
yond us. We are fixed in a monotonous round of 
duties, and tied to that poky little town, which is a 
thousand times worse than Hamlin Garland's bleak 
western prairies." 

I turned to look at the fair speaker whose fragment 
of conversation had come to me through the rumble and 
noise of the suburban train rushing into the city. At 
that moment the brakeman called Central Station, and I 
lost sight of the young woman and her companion as 
they pushed their way into the hurrying throng. Her 
words, however, would not leave me. I knew her view 
was all wrong, but the truth lay in the fact that this 
was not an isolated case. The young woman had un- 
consciously voiced the sentiment of a host of young 
people, who, desiring culture, feel that it is hopelessly 
beyond their reach. " Fixed in a monotonous round," 
the very words seem fatal to the advancement of self 
and to the higher enjoyment of life. 

What is this desirable attainment called culture, 
whose price is above rubies ? and where is it to be found ? 

5 



6 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 

Wherein lies the polishing that alone can bring lustre 
into human life ? Where are the schools of culture ? 
Who are the culturists ? These questions confront 
young people who want to make the most of themselves, 
and to know " What is Worth While." The answer to 
this questioning has been so bewildering, that, like the 
young woman on the morning train, they have been 
compelled to say, " Culture is not for me, nor is it to be 
found in the place where my life is set." The luminous 
truth in regard to culture is the fact that it is the " oil 
of gladness " to be poured into every human life. It is 
the happy possession of all ; and any who perseveringly 
seek may come to their rightful heritage. 

In the common acceptance of the word, culture stands 
for education, travel, leisure, and not indirectly, wealth, 
— exclusively for outward adorning and for earth's 
favored few of affluence. In the broader meaning, cul- 
ture stands for the development of all the faculties and 
gifts of the individual, independent of the manner in 
which it is brought about. True culture recognizes that 
our life has a spiritual interpretation, and sees the inter- 
relation of the spiritual to the material. Often the 
things that count for culture in the usual rendering of 
the word are wholly lacking in the acquirement of cul- 
ture in its deeper significance. All the various shades 
of meaning given the term, when sifted down must 
stand for one of two things, — real and artificial culture. 
The artificial leads into a labyrinth of perplexities. It 
is the real we have to do with. 

Mr. Dawson, in " Quest and Vision," aptly says, " The 
zeal for culture, either in the limited sense of the pas- 
sage or in the larger meaning of the word, has become 
a devouring passion of the nineteenth century." Every 
writer, lecturer, and benefactor of humanity in every 



SOME NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. 7 

known and unknown calling (and the demand for cul- 
ture has created many new professions), holds out his or 
her vista of culture. These are all right in their places, 
and for the favored few who can avail themselves of 
the privileges offered. But we are concerned with the 
neglected opportunities for culture. The things that 
make up the uneventful days in the village or in the 
whirl and rush of the cities' intense activities, — the 
absorbing cares and duties wherever found. The cul- 
ture we desire is that quality of life that will generate 
"sweetness and light" in the narrowest circumstances 
Professor Shairp, in lecturing to his Scottish students, 1 
said, " Culture is the inducing or drawing forth of all 
that is potentially in a man, — training all the energies 
and capacities of his being to their highest pitch and 
to their true ends. To do this requires the discipline 
carried on in one's self, — forming of habits to overcome 
evil, strengthening that which is good." The needs of 
the human heart are as many as the sands of the beach. 
The means of culture are as manifold as the wants to 
which it ministers; and its conditions are with us, 
around us, within us. Culture leads to so joyous a life, 
and its intrinsic value is in its assurance that no change 
of outward circumstances is necessary for the individual 
to acquire it. No running away from country village 
for foreign travel. No neglect of home duties or shift- 
ing of responsibilities. Whatever the things at hand, 
these are as acceptable for culture as Vassar, Yale, and 
summers on the Continent. 

The great neglected opportunity of culture is the 
failure of the individual to adjust himself to his own 
existing environment, and to seek culture therein. To 
trust in the significance of the present, and believe that 
its issues are vital. It is not larger opportunities we 



8 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 

need, but a keener perception to see that the present 
holds the development of ourselves that we crave. Seek 
in your surroundings the harmonious adjustment of 
yourself to the incidents of your daily life. Put into it 
the pure, sweet spirit that is strong enough to believe in 
the good, the true, and the beautiful, and to find them 
in the common things of the day. Your trial lies in 
the plac& where your life is set. But there is also the 
potency of culture in the overcoming of difficulties, ele- 
vating your thoughts and purposes till you mount upon 
higher planes of living. Do not say another has larger 
opportunities. There are no larger opportunities, ex- 
cept as the individual makes them for himself. Do 
not say another has greater privileges. There are no 
opportune occasions, except as the individual makes 
them for himself. The fountain of universal knowl- 
edge, love, and truth is open to all alike. It rests with 
ourselves whether we carry to this spring of living 
water a broken cup or a deep-mouthed pitcher. Accept 
the place of your environment. It has been given to 
you without thought or wish upon your part. Eeceive 
it, then, as a royal gift. Love the duties that it holds. 
Use the advantages that it offers, and have faith in 
their essential relation to the noble development of your 
character. No matter how small the circumference of 
your circle, you will find your sympathies and interests 
expanding until your orbit has become part of that 
which encircles the universe and your fellowship ex- 
tended to all humanity. Have faith in your environ- 
ment, and believe that it holds (for it truly does) the 
ultimate good for your enriched life and happiness. 

We need to bring into the present a higher ideal of 
life. The ideal is the governing aim or purpose ; that 
principle of life which functions first in one act and then 



SOME NEGLECTED 0PP0BTUNIT1ES. 9 

in another. We each have an ideal implanted in the 
centre of our being, whether or no we will see and ac- 
cept it. But its divine presence reveals our need of a 
definite aim and purpose in our lives to guide us through 
the perplexities that meet us on every side. You have 
an ideal that naturally belongs to you, — that your 
nature, with its unique personality (unique because there 
is no other like it), your individual tastes and desires 
have created. An ideal that belongs to you alone, and is 
shaped, measured, and determined, by your peculiar sur- 
roundings. The brightest as well as the most practical 
thing you can do is to find out what your ideal is, and, 
by harmoniously adjusting yourself to the facts around 
you, work out in the outward conditions your inward 
aspirations. To find one's ideal, to unfold yourself, to 
work what you have the faculty for, this, says Carlyle, 
is for the human being the first law of our existence. 
He does not forget to add that it has always been the 
hardest problem to find by study of ourselves, and the 
ground we stand on, what our inward and outward 
capability specialty is. 

To have an ideal does not necessarily mean a par- 
ticular calling or vocation, nor does it mean to be always 
occupied with dreaming dreams and seeing visions. 
But it does mean that noble aim and high standard of 
life that is necessary to attain any degree of worth. It 
does not mean an enthusiasm that will joyfully do what 
you enjoy, and neglect what you dislike. But it does 
mean an exaltation of living that will flow through all 
the channels of your activities. It is never what you 
do, but how you do it. It is never the labor of your 
hands, but the thought back of the task, that determines 
the quality of the work, and stamps it with the rank 
of the individual. Find your ideal. Centralize your 



10 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

thought in it, hold it ever and always before you. 
When you have definitely set out to do this, you will be 
surprised how currents of helpful thoughts and in- 
fluences will immediately begin to flow towards that 
centre. It is true that ideals that are clear and bright 
in the morning grow dim at noon and by evening fade 
away. But do not be discouraged. Bring your ideal 
again and again before you, until you can hold it there, 
and make it real in the activities of the day. It lies in 
our own power what we may become. 

Every task or incident of the day has in it the two 
elements of activity, the spiritual and material. It rests 
with ourselves to bring a spiritual perception into daily 
living. To put love, patience, beauty, and truth into 
our thought, and find their reaction or complementary 
virtues in the material work of the hands. Try to 
understand yourself ; hear Tennyson as he sings, " Self- 
knowledge, self -reverence, and self-control. These three 
alone lead life to sovereign power." No young man- 
hood, no young womanhood, is strong for the world until 
it knows something of its own strength and weakness. 
Whatever of good you desire, it is with you now. 
Whatever you wish to become, you may be that now. 
Do not be afraid to look into your own heart ; the thing 
that will surprise you most will be its realm of undreamed 
good. Your smallest task or humblest service may be 
so full of goodness that it will be wealth poured into 
the world's treasure-house of good. Your daily occupa- 
tions may link themselves with those forces that count 
for the advancing kingdom of truth and righteousness 
that is being established on the earth. Find your ideal 
in the present. Cherish it in your heart. Have faith in 
it to lead you to the sunlit slopes of your environment. 

In our learning patience, and being true to the duties 



SOME NEGLECTED OPPOBTUNITIES. 11 

that hold us, often lies the solution to problems in our 
life's experience. To do one's duty is a means of culture 
not to be despised. Duty always lies right at hand, 
within touch ; and the duty that lies nearest is the one 
through which we are sure of culture, for we grow where 
we work. If we would change our plea from " I want 
to be happy, " to " I want to be useful, " we would find 
with Teufelsdrockh something higher than happiness, 
a "blessedness wherein all contradiction is solved." 
Duty is the hard brown kernel that holds the germ and 
seed of perfect flower. The faithful performance of 
duty, no matter how trivial or monotonous it may seem, 
holds the unfolding of perfected human life in all its 
beauty and fragrance, with the dews of the morning 
glistening on every uplifted leaf. In every little act of 
ours — in the school, the shop, the office, the bank, the 
home, wherever your life is situated, in task or leisure, 
in study or recreation — be true to your ideal, your best 
self. Heed the thoughts that come low and sweet and 
the finer feelings that stir your heart with noble impulse. 
Accept the duties your circumstances place upon you. 
Put your brave spirit into their performance. Use 
them that they may yield both sweetness and strength 
to you. Have faith in them to bring you the delight of 
life. 

The harmonious adjustment to our surroundings, the 
ideal or spiritual imprinting itself upon our material 
activities, make us receptive to new influences. Thoughts 
that purify, elevate and enrich all our associations. We 
have not appreciated hitherto that thoughts are real 
things of life and have as actual an existence as any 
work of our hands. If culture is to grow from the 
present circumstance of your life, it will come from the 
new thought you put into your environment. We all 



12 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

receive faint or clear promptings in our conscience from 
some higher source than our own. The exultant joy of 
living, and the power of our usefulness, are in measure to 
our receptivity to these promptings, and our earnestness 
in carrying out their inspirations. We listen in awe 
and wonder when Emerson talks about the Oversoul; 
but his meaning is simply this : that the good in our 
hearts responds to a good existing outside, and that both 
are supplied from the same inexhaustible source. To 
make an open way to receive more of this goodness is to 
begin now, to-day, to live up to the best light you have. 
If we are co-workers together with the Creator of our 
being, then we share in his creative energies that go to 
renew life, and overrule for good all conditions. If the 
air we breath pulsates with strength for the physical 
body, how much more the spiritual atmosphere around 
us ( and of which we ourselves are a part ) must vibrate 
with vigor for the spiritual part of our nature. If all 
provision is so richly made for health, beauty, and happi- 
ness for the perishable, how much greater for the 
eternal. These helps around us for the spiritual life 
are as real as light and sunshine. Let us hold ourselves 
receptive to their life-giving virtues as freely as we 
inhale the pure air. 

We can learn here a lesson from mother Nature and 
her children. The seed sinks into the ground, nature 
sends the warm sun and refreshing dews. The seed 
does nothing but receive the influences, the powers of 
which, after a time, burst open the shell. A tiny root 
goes down into the earth, and a slender stem comes up. 
" Toute semaille est une chose mysterieuse, qu'elle tornbe 
darts le sol ou dans les dmes." The days of summer 
rain and sunshine come and go till the small vessel is so 
full of the light that it must give it out. Then comes a 



SOME NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. 13 

cluster of buds. The same law that fills up a receptive 
vessel, plant, or human soul, will draw out for others when 
the complete fulness is reached. The buds burst into 
perfect blossom, shedding their fragrance on all. The 
butterflies see the radiance from afar, and the bees drink 
nectar from the chalices of gold. 

These vital truths of the greatness and nobility of our 
lives sink into our hearts, and send their roots into the 
core of our being. We hold them before us. We medi- 
tate upon them until we have absorbed their meaning, 
and they burst into bloom in our daily actions. We 
ourselves become the truth we would carry to others. 
Our hearts speaking out of this fulness of love and 
beauty drop words sweeter than honey. "From our 
spiritual centre," says the author of " Thought Studies," 
"radiate lines that connect us with every part of the 
universe of God. Everything is sending its message to 
us. The stars, sky, clouds, air, heat, cold, landscape, 
flower, each and all, are transmitting their communi- 
cation." When we reach that high plane of living 
where life is infinitely more than this or that circum- 
stance, we find ourselves a part of the great world 
energy and our lives imperishable. Accept the spiritual 
teaching of your own heart. Use it by giving a recep- 
tive mind to its call. Believe in your aspiration as the 
love whisper of the still small voice that will lead you 
to the highest enjoyment of your life. We feel sure 
that Milton, sitting in the darkness and singing his 
great songs, must himself have entered into Paradise 
ere he could lead Adam there. The experience of his 
own life, not Adam's, evolved that deep spiritual truth 
of "how to live and not interrupt the sweets of life." 
To bring us into this joyous living is one of the most 
beneficent claims of culture. 



It does not matter how many, but how good books you have. 

Seneca. 

We never tire of the friendships we form with books. 

Charles Dickens. 

Those authors who appear sometimes to forget they are writers, 
and remember they are men, will be our favorites. He who writes 
from the heart will write to the heart. 

Isaac Disraeli. 

The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me as if I had 
gained a new friend ; when I read over a book I have perused before, 
it resembles the meeting with an old one. 

Oliver Goldsmith. 

How pleasant it is to reflect that all those lovers of books have 
themselves become books. Leigh Hunt. 



LITERATURE. 15 



II. 

LITERATURE. 

Culture from books is not dependent upon the library 
and the well-filled cases of handsomely bound volumes 
that associate themselves with wealth and leisure. 
Culture from books is the use made of a few, rather 
than the accumulation of many volumes. Books have 
character as well as people. It is our privilege to 
choose high companionship in our book friends, and to 
grow worthy of their confidence and affection. Emer- 
son has well said that the poet makes us feel our own 
wealth. This association is within reach of all, and it 
is that education which in itself is advancement of life. 
No one has placed so high a value upon books as the 
makers of books themselves. Those who have joined 
hands with that noble company give to us the key that 
has unlocked for them the King's Treasury and revealed 
the sesame within. 

This key is sympathy and receptivity. These two 
words form the horizon that encircles humanity. To 
be in sympathy with the author means the training of 
our mind to see clearly and grasp firmly the thoughts 
presented, to live with the writer in the history of the 
past or present, to feel one's heart thrill with the 
heroic deeds of the race, to have our eyes enkindled with 
the beautiful creations raised before us. It is said of 
Thackeray that he had a power of going out of himself 
into almost every human feeling. 



16 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

Literature in its true meaning is not the stringing to- 
gether of pretty words and phrases, and placing them be- 
tween two pasteboard covers. Literature is life itself, — 
your life and mine. It is the inward realm of thought 
in each of us which for the most part is hidden under 
our temporary work. The one who can see beneath the 
deeds and actions, and read the thoughts that are the 
governing aim of our lives, is the one who commands our 
reverence and affection. We marvel that the author 
has written a page from our life's history. He has 
fearlessly expressed our trembling aspiration. Our 
" warm tears attest " that he has felt our hidden sorrow. 
How does this writer know me ? My eyes have never 
looked upon the hills that surround his dwelling. But 
he writes from the heart ; and as Faust thrillingly says, 

" That which issues from the heart alone 
Will bend the hearts of others to your own," 

so the book reaches other hearts, bringing them into sym- 
pathy, and making them a part of the universal life of 
the great world about us. In company with others, our 
struggling aspirations find wings to soar upon their mis- 
sions of love. We find consolation for our sorrow in the 
knowledge that it has not come to us alone. 

The trials, disappointments, and sorrows in the life of 
the great musician Haydn only broadened his heart, and 
made room in it for other interests than his own, " an 
effect which unveils the real worth of the artist." Over 
his desk was the following motto, " The heart is man's 
title to nobility." In his sixty-fifth year Haydn says of 
the composition of " The Creation," " Daily I fell upon my 
knees and prayed God to grant me strength for the happy 
execution of this work." Do you wonder his country- 
men loved him so tenderly ? Full-grown men called him 



LITJEEATUBE. 17 

"Papa Haydn," and stooped to kiss his hands, saying, 
" You have brought down fire from heaven to warm our 
earthly hearts, and guide us to the infinite." 

Carlyle is quoted as saying, the true university of 
these days is a collection of books. The need, however, 
is not for the amassing of ideas, but for the establishing 
of a few strong principles that will raise the standard of 
personal character, and govern our relation to our asso- 
ciates. One of the neglected opportunities for culture 
from books is in making a careful selection of these 
friends. The intense life of our period does not leave 
us much time for reading, hence the greater need to 
choose books of established character. Sympathy with 
the author implies our ability to see the beauty and feel 
the truth of what the writer says. Receptivity means 
to take that beauty and truth which he pictures in every 
phase of life, and make it our own by working out 
its principle in the incidents of our day and our rela- 
tions to others. Receptivity to our book friends is the 
highest tribute of companionship. To find the great- 
est pleasure in our friends' society it is not necessary 
that they should be always speaking. In the silent 
moments we are glad and happy to have them near. 
Unspoken or expressed, we know our thought finds in 
their heart a sympathetic response. So with our book 
friends ; we close the volume, they cease to speak in 
words, but their presence lingers with us in real actual 
existence. "Material change is of little importance 
compared to that mental variety which is the secret of 
advancing life." To lay hold of new ideas, to climb new 
spiritual heights, is the change which is growth and 
development in the "World Beautiful." 

Culture from books exalts the personal character, in- 
creases our knowledge of life, makes us worthy of high 



18 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 

companionship, and enlarges our capacity for enjoyment. 
What the artist paints in color, the writer paints in 
words. The author writes the life of my village so true 
to nature, that the local connection is lost sight of in the 
relation it bears to the universal life of the world. The 
characters he depicts, my neighbors, become known to 
all ; the scenes of their trials, defeats, and victories find 
a counterpart in our lives, for the great experiences of life 
are common to all. The writer breaks down my narrow 
prejudice, and leads me from the village to the cosmopol- 
itan centres of activities. " Culture," writes the author 
of " Culture and Books," " enables us to receive the world 
in such a way we possess it ; it ceases to be outside, and 
becomes a part of our nature." " Culture," says Matthew 
Arnold, " is getting to know on all matters that most 
concern us, the best which has been said and thought in 
the world, and, through this knowledge, turning a stream 
of fresh and full thought upon our stock notions and 
habits — the culture we recommend is, above all, an in- 
ward operation." 

Culture from books will manifest itself not in long 
rows of uniform volumes, nor in all the works of this or 
that writer, but in a refined and cultivated manhood 
and womanhood ; a quickened intuition, a responsive- 
ness to the various experiences that make up the daily 
life of the individual ; an appreciation of the trials and 
difficulties under which another labors ; strength and 
encouragement given them to tide over the crisis, not 
always in spoken word^s, but in swift thought ; the cor- 
dial grasp of the hand, the kind glance of the eyes ; all 
the small courtesies that belong to fine natures ; and, 
above all, that buoyant hope and unfailing trust in the 
good and true in human life. It is said that Goethe's 
culture as a writer was less remarkable than his culture 



LITERATURE. 19 

as a man ; he was a richly endowed poet no less than 
a richly educated man, a master both of humanity and 
poetry, one to whom experience had given true wisdom ; 
a man who has suffered and done, and speaks of what 
he has tried and conquered. 

Culture from books, in the usual acceptance, is to en- 
rich the mind, and store up great treasures of thought 
in the intellectual kingdom ; to pile up wealth in gran- 
aries, and enjoy it alone. This, however, did not keep 
life in the first century, nor will it in the twentieth. 
Culture lies not in what we can store up for ourselves, 
but in what we can give out. We acquire culture in 
passing our good to another. We receive culture from 
books when they enlarge our natures, and increase our 
capacity for rendering a royal service to humanity. 
Humanity does not mean people in some far-off country 
that we shall never see, but it has a personal meaning 
for you and your associates. " On all sides are we driven 
to the conclusion, that, of all the things that man can 
make or do here below, the most momentous, the most 
wonderful, are the things called books." Mr. Mabie 
says, " The scholar must always be, in the best sense of 
the word, a man of the world, — one by whom the faces 
and souls of men are daily read with the insight of sym- 
pathy ; one to whom the great movement of humanity 
is the supreme fact to be felt, to be studied, to be inter- 
preted. While the windows of his chamber are open 
to the fields and woods, the doors of his life are open 
to human need and fellowship." 



Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in 
human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye 
through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

No beauty, nor good, nor power 
Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist, 
"When eternity affirms the conception of an hour. 

Robert Browning. 

The ideal under all its forms is the anticipation and the prophetic 
vision of that existence, higher than its own, towards which every 
being perpetually aspires. 

The ideal, after all, is truer than the real; for the ideal is the 
eternal element in perishable things. 

Amiel. 



ART. 21 



III. 



ART. 



Art, even more than literature, is synonymous of the 
culture that associates itself with education, leisure, 
travel, and wealth. The word art is as complex in its 
meaning and as manifold in its manifestation as culture. 
Like culture, out of the confusion of terms, it holds one 
simple rendering, namely, Life is Art. 

The neglected opportunities for culture from art lie 
within ourselves. We have not tried to understand 
what art means or represents in its various forms and 
expressions. We have had only one definition, that of 
a collection of paintings, curios from distant lands, costly 
stuffs from the orient. We have left art to people 
who, if they did not possess these things,' at least had 
the opportunity of seeing them, and to those who talk 
learnedly of this or that school of painting, the Classic, 
the Romantic, the Impressionist, names that bring us 
no knowledge, much less pleasure. Art is covered up 
under an array of terms and usages that separates it 
from the life of the multitude, and usurps its noble use 
in the ordinary toil of the day. We have built up a 
wall to keep art out, and left our own life barren of its 
high pleasures and enjoyment, of that part which makes 
life noble living instead of mere existence. Art should 
be a part of the common work of the day, and it belongs 
to each and to every life. Art is the spiritual interpre- 
tation of nature and of human life. It is the grasping, 



22 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

and fixing in permanency of color, thought, form, or 
tone, that imperishable beauty and truth which are at the 
centre of all life. The artist, the poet, the sculptor, the 
musician, are voices of the same spirit and of a spirit 
that is a part of your life and mine as truly as it was 
of Titian, Michael Angelo, Dante, and Mozart. 

All artists do not paint pictures, nor poets sing songs. 
It is your privilege to see below the surface of things, 
and to feel their true relation to each other. The clear- 
ness of vision depends upon the depth of sympathy you 
give. If your heart goes out to the man in the field, 
and you feel the dignity of labor, you, too, are a Millet, 
though you may not know one color from another. If 
you see the smile of God in the eyes of children, you, 
too, are an Angelico, though your angel faces may never 
gleam on cloister walls or your trumpeters hail the wait- 
ing throng. Art, then, is to come into sympathetic touch 
with the universal life about us, and to have our hearts 
thrilled and inspired with the wondrous beauty and truth 
in nature and human life. 

Browning makes Fra Lippo Lippi say : — 

" We're made so that we love 
First when we see them painted, 

Things we have passed 
Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see." 

The meadow increased in value for the owner after 
George Inness had placed his easel there. The farmer 
looked in surprise and wonder at the delightful picture 
of his own pasture-land, his cattle in shade of the oaks 
or in the clear sunlight. Inness had such an intense 
feeling for the essence of beauty in nature that his work 
awakens corresponding emotions in those who behold it, 
long after the pure colors have dried upon the palette. 



ART. 23 

My neighbor's woodland, across the open field, holds 
the same entrancing beauty of silvery gray as the forest 
of Fontainebleau, were a Corot at my window this spring 
morning ; while a Troyon would not seek farther than 
the long rows of great maples that line the drive, with 
the sentinel firs at the head and the pet Jerseys brows- 
ing on the tender green in the pasture beyond. "But 
I see nothing," exclaims my fair speaker, "except the 
colonel's grove of trees ; neither is there any picture 
in the drive leading up to the senator's country home ; 
while your words, Corot and Troyon, have even less 
meaning than the views of which you speak." So much 
the worse for you, my friend, in not knowing the pleas- 
ure you miss. Seize your neglected opportunity to-day, 
and set about to find out what these and similar words 
and terms mean. 

The twentieth century holds no excuse for young 
people not knowing something of pictures. Since the 
World's Fair, reproductions of good paintings have been 
within the reach of all. Photogravures, Copley Prints, 
Platinotypes, and the fine illustrations in magazines, have 
brought a knowledge of choice pictures within the reach 
of all. The growing interest in the art development of 
our country has made it possible for the most remote 
districts from the art centres to have a loan exhibit of 
works of art. 

Whatever has been the distinguishing feature of a 
nation's culture has been the distinguishing feature of 
the individual culture. In the Golden Age of Italian 
Art the poorest clerk in the shop was a judge of art 
and an art critic, for art was a part of the daily life of 
the Greek. Emerson has told us that, to find the beau- 
tiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. The 
interpreters of the beauties of nature are those who, by 



24 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

long and close observation, have entered into sympa- 
thetic companionship with her ever-changing moods. 
All great artists have been in closest touch with life. 
It is said of Rousseau, one of the pioneers of the Bar- 
bizon School, that " his interest, delight, and enthusiasm 
in nature became absorption in her. He knew the secret 
of nature's pictorial element ; he adopted her suggestions 
so cordially, and worked them out with such intense sym- 
pathy and harmoniousness, that the two forces seemed 
reciprocally to enforce each other, and the result gains 
many fold from their subtle co-operation." Corot's 
habit of contemplation marked the character of his 
work. He used to spend whole nights at his country 
home in leaning out the window, watching the sky, the 
trees, and the water. In his dreamy poetical interpreta- 
tion of nature he remembers the gray mist, light and 
floating, with which the air is saturated and which al- 
ways obscures the horizon of his pictures. The key- 
note of Corot's coloring is silvery gray, of which has 
been said, "Never did one use tints with such positive 
force and a palette whose subtilities are capable of giv- 
ing such exquisite splendor." Of his life one might say 
the keynote was love, for he lived in an atmosphere of 
love and kindness which infolded all who came near 
him. It was the long continued intercourse with nature, 
and the keen observation of all her sights, that enabled 
Haydn to give them conscious expression in " The Crea- 
tion." The fundamental principle of Haydn's character 
was joy in life, and contentment with the common things 
of the day. His wonderfully expressive tones show his 
deep sympathy for human life, " sorrowing with its 
sorrow, merry with its folly, and always intimately as- 
sociated with all human action." Beethoven used to 
wander through the still forest at Baden, and think out 



ART. 25 

his compositions. In a memoranda lie writes, "My 
heart overflows at the aspects of the beauties of nature." 
Of one of his symphonies, where he points to the higher 
spheres, Beethoven says that the adagio suggested itself 
one night when he was contemplating the starry heaven 
and thinking of the harmony of the spheres. He says 
also that the everlasting change in nature enabled him 
to conceive the eternal and imperishable. 

This is art, — to conceive in the ceaseless changing of 
nature and human life the eternal and imperishable. 
We cannot all put this in tone, color, form, or word ; 
but each heart has its indwelling artist spirit that can 
see and fix the beauty of the imperishable in its own 
daily life. 

The whole realm of nature lies within ourselves. 
Corot found in his own life emotion and feeling cor- 
responding to the scenes before him. The ever-varying 
change of color was his own fleeting thought, for 
nature has a responsive mood for every experience of 
the heart. The artist's palette holds complementary 
colors. He will not use the shade without its comple- 
mentary tone. It is the law of life that two parts make 
a whole. The same holds good through the gamut of 
human life and existence. Goodness, truth, and virtue 
are things of life, not names only. Each experience has 
its complement, its other part. Duty, then, hard and 
harsh as it seems, has its corresponding blessing. Trial, 
severe as the storm may be, has its complementary action. 
The roots of life strike deeper down into our being, and 
take hold of the eternal foundations. Sorrow, dark and 
starless as the night, will have a dawn where the sun 
rises in clear sky as deep as the love of God. 

Every duty or act of common service holds a respon- 
siveness of spiritual significance. The room that you 



26 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

sweep gladly and joyfully the very best you can, may 
not only be left fresh and in order, but also exhilarating 
with your thoughts of cheer and helpfulness. The weary 
who cross the threshold shall be refreshed, the disheart- 
ened shall be encouraged. They say only how cosey the 
room, how inviting. But it is not the artistic arrange- 
ment of furniture alone that has given the pleasurable 
feeling. It is the ministering of your pure thought 
to the spiritual need that sends them out rested and 
strengthened ; unconsciously they receive the help you 
left, in the noble performance of your humble task. Is 
it not a beautiful service ? and who shall say that one 
act holds more of spiritual significance than another ? 
Your labor held its complementary reaction, which lay 
outside the brushing of dust and setting of chairs in 
order. E-uskin has beautifully said that the crowning 
virtue of all great art is that however little is left by 
the injuries of time that little will be lovely, so much 
the hand of the Master suggests his soul. So, in the 
smallest act, in the mere fragment of the day's work, 
there may be the impress of noble character. 

Art, then, is life, and " great art is nothing else than 
the type of strong and noble life ; " and as the universal 
characteristic of all great art is called tenderness and 
truth, so the universal characteristic of all great life is 
tenderness and truth. This manifests itself in the 
sweetness of spirit that permeates all the acts and 
deeds of the day, and creates an atmosphere that vi- 
brates with the mysterious and magnetic influence that 
both charms and inspires. "The aim of culture is to 
make us better company as men and women of the 
world." 



By noble searching and striving for the better, we of ourselves 
produce the good which we suppose we find. Goethe. 

"We cannot make progress towards perfection ourselves unless we 
earnestly seek to carry our fellow-men along with us. 

Professor J. C. Schairp. 

The enlargement of social relations depends far less on opportu- 
nity than on sympathy. Responsiveness, sympathy, receptivity, — 
these are the doors through which life enters into us and through 
which we go forth in life. Lilian Whiting. 



28 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 



IV. 



SOCIETY. 

Culture from literature and art anticipates culture 
from society. Literature and art are expressions of life 
that we may learn to know, but their ideal cannot come 
into our daily living except by personal contact with 
people. Culture from association does not come from 
the occasional meeting of gifted and talented people, nor 
the acquaintance of those who move in a select social 
circle. Culture from people lies in the relation held to 
persons of daily contact. We are to look for the < fine 
nature in the ordinary' acquaintance of neighbor and 
friend. If we ourselves are responsible to the best in 
people we will find them bringing their best to us. Not 
in the casual acquaintance, but in the daily association, 
are we to seek that refinement of thought and feeling 
that distinguish the cultured man or woman. 

The smallest cirde of acquaintance holds some one 
who can help you, and some one, too, who needs your 
help. There is a world's difference in the same experi- 
ence for each individual. If you can bring a sympa- 
thetic fellow-feeling and appreciation to your neighbor's 
circumstance you have enlarged your own interests and 
knowledge of life. The world is full of beautiful silent 
lives, — lives that so quietly and faithfully fulfil the 
common duties or humble tasks, that we overlook the 
beneficence of their beauty and worth, until some day 



SOCIETY. 29 

the choice spirit enshrines itself elsewhere, and we find 
the whole community sorrowing at the departure. Such 
lives by their unfailing kindness, unselfish interest, and 
noble fortitude in the common things of the day, bring a 
new vision of manhood and womanhood to the world. A 
high ideal of life has exalted the personal character, and 
made it a radiating point for the divine love. Crowns 
of eternal life rest upon brows here, for in the present 
is the triumph over death and glorious entering into 
sanctified human life and experience. 

It is our privilege to cultivate the acquaintance of 
those of larger opportunities, higher education, broader 
knowledge, and deeper sympathies. No home is so poor 
but that Milton will cross the threshold and sing of 
Paradise. ISTo circle is so limited but what at the stone 
table of Emmaus will sit the royal guest who, while 
breaking bread for the physical need, will hand with it 
the bread of life. Our hearts burn within us as a search- 
light is thrown in upon our experience, showing its 
relation to others and stimulating our purpose to high 
endeavor. 

" There is a wonderful power in us for imparting our- 
selves to our surroundings ; the fountain of vitality con- 
stantly overflows and fertilizes everything we touch." 
You know how the whole house seems enlarged when a 
noble man or woman comes into the home. Even the old 
and worn furniture seems to take on a rich, mellow tone 
and becomes the soft, harmonious background of gray. 
Eyes that sparkle and gleam in wit and humor, or are 
dreamy and lustrous in reminiscence, throw the light of 
the immortal spirit over all inanimate. objects. The pic- 
ture swiftly paints itself in glowing, indelible colors upon 
the heart. The real and the ideal are united — are one. 
The cottage seems larger and better because of the contact 



30 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 

with, that soul ; your whole horizon of life has been en- 
larged. The sweep of view has extended to new regions. 
It is like climbing the mountain from your small home 
nestled at its base. Ascending the historic Lookout, 
you see other mountain ranges than your own and Great 
Smoky in distant line of hazy blue. Instead of your 
little garden-spot of tender green, you look out over the 
fields and forests of seven States, while, far below, the 
river winds like a silver thread and, overhead, sky and 
clouds meet. The bit of garden has become a portion of 
the entrancing scene, and dearer to you because of its 
part in the great beautiful vista that stretches out before 
you 5 so to see life in a noble spirit, to catch a glimpse 
of your bit of the world as it stands related to the uni- 
versal life that touches and claims your own. The very 
rooms vibrate with the invisible influence of character. 
The door closes on the world without for the world 
within. The ideal and the actual commingle. The best 
we can dream or think becomes the real, the true. You 
cannot analyze the sacred charm of such a personality 
or recall the conversation. Much of it, perhaps, was the 
light play of words of the moment, like the glinting of 
sunshine on the forest trees. Nevertheless, you enjoy 
the sunlight, and feel its exhilarating warmth and glow. 
You know that in the heat of noonday there are cooling 
shades in the depths. You can smile and be happy in 
the playful fancies that gleam like sunbeams. In the 
rare sweetness and simplicity of the spirit that can pour 
such wealth of living into the small incidents of the 
day, there are also cooling shades for the heat and weari- 
ness of life's noonday. Then, too, by some mysterious 
alchemy sunshine and shadow in nature or human life 
become the self-same substance, drawing their existence 
from the one source. You find your actual daily life 



SOCIETY. 31 

evolving the deepest spiritual truths you have known or 
that the world holds. 

The person of culture stands on an eminence where 
all men are equally related to each other. The highest 
good they have attained is shared with another. If one 
hand reaches up for the joyous possessions of life, the 
other hand clasps the hand of one less favored in the 
world's gladness. "When the aim of pursuit of culture 
is lost in the glorious end, there culture begins. The 
relations one holds to his associates is the test that 
determines whether the culture is an outward adorning 
or the rich, overflowing life within that vivifies all it 
touches. It is said of Beethoven that when he smiled, 
people not only believed in him, but in humanity. To 
bring into our daily association fervent hope, confident 
assurance in the ultimate good, tenderness of kindred 
fellowship, is the neglected opportunity of culture of 
society for rendering the highest service to humanity. 



I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

Jesus. 



LIFE. 33 



LIFE. 



" The world's old ; 
But the old world waits the hour to be renewed ; 
Toward which new hearts in individual growth must quicken." 

The call of the new century will be for the highest 
type of cultured manhood and womanhood, — those to 
whom " culture is transmuted from an intellectual at- 
tainment to a spiritual grace." Culture must lead to 
the full rounded symmetry of character, and this means 
the development of our spiritual as well as our intellec- 
tual nature. " Culture must culminate into religion, and 
religion expand into culture." Professor Schairp writes, 
" Religion and culture, when rightly regarded, are not 
two opposite powers, but they are^ as it were, one line 
with two opposite poles. Start from the man-ward pole, 
and go along the line honestly and thoroughly, and you 
land in the divine one. Start from the divine pole, and 
carry out all it implies, and you land in the man-ward 
pole, or perfection of humanity. Religion, or impulse 
of man to seek God, culture, or impulse of man to seek 
his own highest perfection, both come from the same 
divine source; and as God sees them there can be no 
opposition but perfect harmony between them." The 
neglected opportunity of culture from religion is that 
we accept the forms and ceremonies of Christianity for 
the life itself. Culture is in living the life, not in put- 
ting on its garb. 



34 OPPORTUNITIES FOB CULTURE. 

The trend of modern thought is for the spiritual 
interpretation of life. The eager and intense activity 
of the student is for truth. The world in all its fads 
and fancies is seeking truth. Enthusiastic sects, holding 
diverse opinions, claim their supreme possession of the 
priceless treasure. Out of the turmoil and confusion of 
bewildering ideas, a quiet voice says, " I am the Way, the 
Truth and the Lif e." The need of the present is not for 
culture to find a new way, but to walk in the old paths 
with unswerving tread, revealing the moral dignity and 
sterling worth of Christian character. 

It is a fine quality of culture that it possesses the 
broad charity that takes the world into its heart, with 
love and sympathy for men of all creeds and of no 
creeds. Truth does not manifest itself to all alike. 
With entirely different circumstances, people stand on 
one common ground of fellowship, where the horizon of 
life holds for each something of the same aspect. Each, 
in widely different training, grasps the same fundamen- 
tal truth — " the truth which draws through all things 
upward." The only life worth living is the soul life, 
said a surgeon of distinguished honor on both conti- 
nents. The speaker's deep knowledge of the world 
and of men, his divine compassion, and the intrinsic 
value he placed upon human life, gave consequence to 
his words of deep searching truth. 

We must learn to detach ourselves from false ideas, 
and to distinguish the true and real beneath the con- 
ventional and artificial, before we can enter into the 
great and true relations of life. Great life only can 
reach simplicity of living. As "it takes a great deal 
of life to make a little art," so it takes a great deal of 
life to learn how to live. One lives not only in his 
individual work, but a noble spirit perpetuates itself 



LIFE. 35 

in every life it comes in contact with. Victor Hugo 
gives us the briefest sketch of the good bishop; but 
every act in the after life of Jean Valjean shows his 
heart reverberating to the potency of the bishop's 
whisper, "My brother, you no longer belong to evil 
but to good." Valjean himself becomes that good, and 
it glows with a " magnificent radiance " in his life. 
The bishop had a strange way, says Hugo; and he 
quaintly adds, "I suspect that he obtained it from 
the Gospels ; " he told the best truths, which are the 
most simple. If we ourselves are the incarnation of 
the truth we speak, it creates the condition in which 
others can receive that truth and grow into conformity 
with it. We have not begun to realize the significance 
of those quiet words, "I am the way, the truth and the 
life," nor will we until their literal translation is imper- 
sonated in our daily living. The spiritual is the crea- 
tive world of thought, emotion, and action ; and its realm 
is not in some far-off sphere, but in our own souls. We 
have not commenced to draw upon our resources within. 
It is impossible to do so until we have brought our life 
into perfect harmony with the higher power that controls 
it. We acquire the art of living from him alone who 
said, " Learn of me." Through this source only, we pos- 
sess the life more abundant, which rejoicingly and ex- 
ultantly flows through all the channels of our activities, 
renewing the spirit's perennial beauty, and awakening 
into life and action the innate qualities of goodness that 
lie dormant till the divine spark kindles into flame. 

The hunger and thirst of higher desires and aspira- 
tions push us out ; and we go questioning here and yon- 
der, only to be brought back to ourselves, and hear a voice 
within asking, " Whom seekest thou ? " In startled 
surprise we wonderingly ask, "Master, where dwellest 



36 OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURE. 

thou ? " The illimitable tenderness of the response, 
" Come and see," makes us so eager to possess him that 
we let go everything else, and, behold, he possesses us. 
Our hearts are flooded with the luminous light of love 
and truth. The revelation brings a knowledge of one's 
self. Where we felt hedged in and hampered we are 
now free. Where we were bitter and rebellious we are 
now " led forth with peace." Where we thought God 
cold and stern we feel the infinite love that will not 
even break a leaf that is tossed to and fro, and we 
know for a certainty that the smallest detail of our life 
has the Creator's thought and care. " We have found 
him" — the centre of our being. He is our Saviour from 
ourselves. To find God is the romance of every soul. 

The practical recognition of this higher Personality 
is our deepest experience, and the one that embraces all 
others, and regulates all our actions. When we get at 
the centre of self, and live in a higher Personality, we see 
the true purpose of our life. No soul feels a complete- 
ness in its self. David cried out, " I am alone as a spar- 
row upon the house-top ; " but Jesus said, " I am not alone, 
the Father is with me. I and the Father are one ; " per- 
fected humanity and deified Godhead. Culture " leads 
us out with joy" when it brings us that oneness of spirit 
with the higher Personality in our lives. For there is 
a Christ in every human heart sent to earth. Perfected 
humanity is for you, and all the world hopes to reach or 
to become lives within the immortal spirit of the indivi- 
dual. The supremacy of culture will reveal itself in 
magnanimous service for others. Aurora Leigh says to 
Eomney, — 

" Beloved, we must be here to work; 
And men who work, can only work for men, 
And, not to work in vain, must comprehend 



LIFE. 37 

Humanity, and so work humanly, 

And raise men's bodies still by raising souls, 

As God did, first. 

The man most man, with tenderest human hands, 
Works best for men — as God in Nazareth." 



WHAT IS WORTH WHILE SERIES. 



AFTER COLLEGE, WHAT ? For Girls. By H. E. Starrett. 

THE ART OF LIVING. By F. Emory Lyon. 

THE BEST IjIFE. By Charles F. Thwing. 

BLESSED ARE THE CROSS-BEARERS. By W. R. Nicoll. 

BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS. By Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

BY THE STILL WATERS. By Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

THE CHILDREN'S WING. By Elizabeth Glover. 

THE CHRIST-FILLED LIFE. By C..C. HaU, D.D. 

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. 

CHRISTIAN'S ASPIRATIONS. By Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor. 

THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL. By J. Guinness Rogers. 

CONFLICTING DUTIES. By E. S. Elliott. 

CULTURE AND REFORM. By Anna R. Brown, Ph.D. 

CULTURE OF MANHOOD. By Silas K. Hocking. 

DO WE BELIEVE IT ? By E. S. Elliott. 

THE EVERLASTING ARMS. By Francis E. Clark, D.D. 

EVOLUTION OF A COLLEGE STUDENT. W. DeW. Hyde. 

EXPECTATION CORNER-. By E. S. Elliott. 

FAMILY MANNERS. By Elizabeth Glover. 

A GENTLE HEART. By the Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

<JIRLS : Faults and Ideals. By Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

GIVING WHAT WE HAVE. By Anna R. Brown, Ph.D. 

THE GLORY OF THE IMPERFECT. By George H. Palmer. 

GOLDEN RULE IN BUSINESS. By Charles F. Dole. 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN. By Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

THE GREATEST THING EVER KNOWN. Ralph W. Trine. 

THE HAPPY LIFE. By Charles W. Eliott, LL.D. 

HEAVENLY RECOGNITION. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. 

TDE AL M OTHERH OOD. By Minnie S. Davis. 

IF I WERE GOD. By Richard Le Gallienne. 

J. COLE. By Emma Gellibrand. 

JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER. By Hesba Stretton. 

KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER. By John Ruskin. 

LADDIE. By the author of " Miss Toosey's Mission." 

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

LUXURY AND SACRIFICE. By Charles F. Dole. 

THE MARRIAGE ALTAR. By the Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 

MASTER AND MAN, By Count Tolstoi. 

MISS TOOSEY'S MIS SION . By the author of " Laddie. " 

•OF INTERCOURSE WITH GOD. Intro, by Rev. A. Murray. 

THE PATHS OF DUTY. By Dean Farrar. 

REAL HAPPENINGS. By Mrs. Mary B. Claflin. 

SECRETS OF HAPPY HOME LIFE. Rev. J. R. Miller. D.D. 

SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH, By Prof. G. H. Palmer. 

SELF CULTURE. By Wm. E. Channing, D.D. 

SHIPS AND HAVENS. By Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D. 

SOUL'S QUEST AFTER GOD. By Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D. 

STILLNESS AND SER VICE. By E. S. Elliott. 

STUDY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. By W. H. Hudson. 

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, By Matthew Arnold. 

TALKS ABOUT A FINE ART. By Elizabeth Glover. 

TELL JESUS. By Anna Shipton. 

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. By E. S. Elliott. 

TRUE WOMANHOOD. By W. Cunningham, D.D. 

THE TWO PILGRIMS, By Count Lyof N. Tolstoi". 

VICTORY OF OUR FAITH. By Anna R. Brown Lindsay. 

WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? By Anna R. Brown Lindsay. 

WHAT MEN LIVE BY. By Count Lyof N. Tolstoi. 

WHAT A CARPENTER DID WITH HIS BIBLE* Genung. 

WHAT GOOD DOES WISHING DO? By Anna R. B. Lindsay. 

WHEN THE KING COMES TO HIS OWN. By E. S. Elliott 

WHEREFORE, O GODP By ttie Rev. C. B. Herbert. 

WH ERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO. Count Tolstoi. 

WHY GO TO COLLEGE ? By Alice Freeman Palmer. 

YOUNG MEN : Faults and Ideals. By Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. 



JbhUS 1899 



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